2017 in Review: PS4 Still in Sales Lead, but Switch Catching Up

PS4 becomes top 10 selling console of all time, but the Switch may catch up to it eventually

Image/Photo Credit: Sony

Sony has announced that 74 million PS4s have already been sold, with the game console having a great holiday period with 5.9 million unit sales.

But Sony's lead in this current console generation may not hold, as the Nintendo Switch is quickly catching up, already selling more than 10 million units in just 9 months after release.

These are global sales numbers, with North American sales numbers for the Switch breaking the record for the fastest selling console after 10 months, selling 4.8 million units in that time. Incidentally, the previous record was also held for a Nintendo console, the original Wii.

If the trend holds, then the Switch could outsell Wii and the PS4, even though Sony's console does have a head start in terms of having been released 4 years earlier. The PS4 is currently the 10th best selling console of all time, just ahead of the Nintendo 3DS and below the PlayStation Portable.

As for the other console in the current generation, the Xbox One and all its variants, Microsoft is keeping quiet on exact sales figures for the console, although most analysts believe it is selling around half the number of units as the PS4. Microsoft says that the Xbox One is selling above their expectations and is selling at a faster rate than its previous consoles, including the wildly popular Xbox 360.